Al-Qaida link to bombing probed

[VermontDem2004]

Aug. 8 — The FBI has sent a team to Iraq to lead the investigation into the bombing of the Jordanian Embassy as a group linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network became a focus of the inquiry, U.S. officials said Friday. The death toll from the blast rose to 19 people, with at least 50 others wounded.

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION is concerned that Iraqi police do not have the abilities, such as bomb blast analysis, to properly investigate the deadly attack, a senior Justice Department official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The FBI team, of fewer than a dozen, will mainly secure and analyze evidence at the bombing site and will likely help train Iraqi investigators in the same skills, the official said. It was not known when the team would arrive or how long it would stay.

Authorities are looking at Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked group, as a potential suspect, Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told U.S.-run Radio Sawa, which broadcasts to the Middle East in Arabic.

“The one organization that we have confidence and that we know is in Iraq and in the Baghdad area is Ansar al-Islam,” he said. “It is unknown whether this particular organization was associated with the . Perhaps that’ll become clear as we go down the road.

“But that is an al-Qaida-related organization and one that we are focusing attention on,” Schwartz said.

MSNBC

[MrJones]

1. What. A. Steaming. Pile.

Look at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030808/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_1470. Gen. Sanchez says "U.S. officials didn't have any specific information linking Ansar al-Islam to the bombing but were looking for any possible link."

Meanwhile, there's the obvious question of why Ansar al-Islam would bomb the embassy of another Arab country. There's also the curious fact that Jordan, four days before the bombing, offered asylum to Saddam's daughters. Gee, do you suppose that some anti-Saddam group might have bombed the embassy in retaliation? Don't you think that's at least an avenue worth investigating?

I can see why they might not want to think about it; it raises the specter of Baghdad completely turning into Beirut c. 1982, with a variety of armed groups from all points on the ideological compass shooting and blowing up each other all over the city.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

2. They probably ARE linked now, thanks George

If they weren't buddies before, then they are now

[Snellius]

3. I think Al Qaeda took my car keys too.

I can't find them anywhere.